“The president and the foreign minister spoke about a range of common threats, including threats to aviation,” McMaster said. “At no time were intelligence sources or methods discussed.”

McMaster added that Trump “did not disclose any military operations that weren’t previously known.”

“I was in the room, it didn’t happen,” McMaster insisted, referring to the meeting with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

McMaster’s impromptu press briefing capped a frantic few hours as the White House tried to contain the latest scandal engulfing the president.

The Washington Post story claimed Trump relayed “code-word information” that came from a US ally through an “intelligence-sharing” deal so sensitive that details had been withheld from America’s allies and were even kept under wraps within most of the government.

The partner had not given the United States approval to share the material with Russia, and officials told the Washington Post that Trump risked losing the cooperation of an ally that had deep access to ISIS strategies.

In addition, the New York Times reported that among the details divulged by the president was the location in Syria where the intelligence was collected. That detail, sources noted, could have given Russia clues as to who gathered the intelligence.

In the meeting, Trump boasted about having access to the intelligence, which dealt with ISIS plans to use laptops to blow up planes, the Washington Post said.

“I get great intel. I have people brief me on great intel every day,” Trump reportedly said.

The debacle comes one week after the White House began taking flak over the president’s unexpected firing of FBI Director James Comey.

“They botched this [the Russia revelation] even though they had hours to prepare a response,” a White House official told the New York Post about the communications team. “It’s like they learned nothing from last week.”

The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, Rep Adam Schiff (Calif.), called the report “deeply disturbing.”

Report that Trump shared highly classified intelligence with Russians is deeply disturbing. House Intel needs to be briefed immediately. pic.twitter.com/jHaMKy71am